Lucy Liu

Lucy Liu is a single parent by choice. She has one son, Rockwell Lloyd Liu, who was born in 2015 via gestational surrogate. Liu has said that surrogacy was the right option for her because she was working and did not know when she would be able to stop.

Liu has been vegetarian since childhood and has studied Buddhism, Taoism, and Jewish mysticism. She has been a member of the Chinese-American organization Committee of 100 since 2004 and has participated in campaigns supporting inclusive families and marriage equality.

Liu grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens, as the youngest of three children. Her mother, Cecilia, was a biochemist, and her father, Tom Liu, was a civil engineer. Her parents came from Beijing and Shanghai, immigrated to Taiwan as adults, and later met in New York. Liu learned Mandarin at home and began studying English at age five.

She attended Stuyvesant High School, began college at New York University, and transferred to the University of Michigan, where she earned a degree in Asian languages and cultures in 1990. During her senior year, she auditioned for a campus production of Alice in Wonderland and unexpectedly won the lead role. After moving to Los Angeles, she appeared on shows including Beverly Hills, 90210, NYPD Blue, ER, and The X-Files, then joined the main cast of Pearl alongside Rhea Perlman.

Liu's breakthrough came with Ling Woo on Ally McBeal. She had initially auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter, but Ling was created specifically for her. The part was originally intended to last only a few episodes, yet strong audience response made Liu a permanent cast member and earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination.

Liu became an international star after playing Alex Munday in Charlie's Angels alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. She followed the film with Shanghai Noon, Chicago, and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, in which she played O-Ren Ishii. Her other film roles include Payback, Lucky Number Slevin, The Man with the Iron Fists, Set It Up, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Presence, and Red One.

She has also built a substantial voice-acting career. Liu voiced Master Viper in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and Silvermist in the Tinker Bell series, as well as characters in Mulan II, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Strange World, and Star Wars: Visions.

On television, Liu played Officer Jessica Tang in Southland, Simone Grove in Why Women Kill, and Dr. Joan Watson in Elementary. The Elementary role reinterpreted Watson as a woman in the Sherlock Holmes adaptation and brought Liu three People's Choice Award nominations. She made her Broadway debut in 2010 as Annette in the Tony Award-winning play God of Carnage.

Liu has directed episodes of Elementary, Graceland, Luke Cage, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Why Women Kill, New Amsterdam, and American Born Chinese. Her short film Meena was based on the story of an eight-year-old Indian girl who was sold to a brothel. She also produced the documentaries Freedom's Fury and Redlight, and starred in and produced Rosemead.

Liu has worked as a painter, photographer, and collage artist under her Chinese name, Yu Ling. She began making collage mixed media at age 16 and studied drawing, painting, and sculpture at the New York Studio School from 2004 to 2006. Her exhibitions have included shows in New York, Munich, Manchester, and Singapore. Her first national museum exhibition, Unhomed Belongings, was held at the National Museum of Singapore in 2019.

Her advocacy has included serving as a U.S. Fund for UNICEF ambassador since 2004, traveling to Pakistan and Lesotho, and producing work focused on human trafficking. In 2019, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the second Asian American woman to receive that honor.